Passenger chair with a convenience device

Abstract

A passenger chair or a group of passenger chairs, particularly in an aircraft cabin, is equipped with a convenience device that includes an open storage bail which can hold only flat articles but not waste material, and a waste container for holding waste material but not flat articles. The storage bail and waste container form either a mounting unit or retrofit kit or are separate components. In both instances the mounting unit and the separate components are secured to a back facing area of a chair or group of chairs. The separate components are preferably so constructed that individual retrofit kits are provided.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM[0001] This application is based on and claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119 of German Patent Applications 100 11 423.7, filed on Mar. 9, 2000 and 100 52 593.8, filed on Oct. 24, 2000, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.[0002] The invention relates to a passenger chair or a group of passenger chairs equipped with a convenience device particularly for use in a passenger compartment or passenger cabin in a passenger aircraft.BACKGROUND INFORMATION[0003] It is well known to equip passenger seats, particularly aircraft passenger seats, with a convenience device for storing articles and for collecting waste. A pouch for holding printed safety instructions, onboard information, newspapers, magazines and the like is normally secured to the backrest of a passenger seat. German Patent Publication DE 34 47 179 discloses such a pouch in the form of a storage net equipped with elastic strings. Such pouches, even if they are made of nettin...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] to avoid the above problems by preventing passengers from mixing useful articles such as newspapers, magazines and the like with waste materials in the same pouch;

[0009] to substantially reduce the time required for cleaning and preparing a cabin for the next flight.

[0012] It is an advantage of the invention that the profitability of an aircraft is increased because cleaning crews no longer have to manually separate waste from useful articles. Thus, the turnaround time is reduced and the aircraft can be used more efficiently. Another advantage is seen in that the useful flat articles, such as magazines are more visible to the passenger than heretofore, since only a narrow clamping bail holds the flat articles in place so that inspection is possible without removing the articles from the bail. Furthermore, the nuisance of a cluttered cabin floor is avoided, at least for those passengers that use the present convenience device.

Problems solved by technology

Such pouches, even if they are made of netting, are not convenient for holding waste that is produced by passengers.

Passengers nevertheless store this refuse in the pouch where it is hard to retrieve.

In both instances the work of the clean-up crew is made more difficult because it is time consuming to retrieve the refuse from the pouches or collect it from the floor.

Additionally, these methods of storing refuse are inconvenient for the passengers as well, because a passenger must hold the pouch open with one hand and stuff the refuse into the pouch with the other hand.

Even "storing" the refuse on the cabin floor becomes a nuisance particularly on long flights.

The time needed for these operations increases the total time for the cleaning and preparation of the cabin for the next flight which has a negative influence on the so-called turn-around time.

However, the conventional solution still leaves it to the passenger whether to stuff the waste into the waste bag or into the pouch.

This happens particularly when the access to the waste bag is inconvenient, for example when the folding table is still in its up-position.

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